One of the comments on the discussion of convergent etymologies at Tenser, said the Tensor (see below) got me thinking. The comment, by Q. Pheevr, ended as follows: "Of course, if you took away the "same spelling" requirement, the possibilities would expand tremendously—we'd let in shirt/skirt and otter/hydro/vodka/undulate/whisk(e)y and all sorts of others...."
So here's the contest: Who can post the most interesting, ironic set of related words? What I'm looking for is a set of words that are ultimately related etymologically, but which have come down through different paths to become quite opposite (or at least seeming unrelated) in meaning. So, the shirt/skirt group wouldn't count--they're the same category of thing--but the idea that otters are related to whiskey and vodka is pretty interesting.
Rules of the contest: Post the most interesting or ironic set of words you know or can find, and we will all enjoy them. I will decide who I think are the winners, tell no one, and award them nothing. (Oh come now, if you're going to post in such a contest, you probably think studying words is its own reward anyway, nicht wahr?)
To get you started: Also related are these two previous posts.
2 comments:
decline, incline, recline, clitellum, acclivity, declivity, proclivity,clitoris, lid, lean, client, –clinal, cline, –cline, –clinic, clino-, clisis; aclinic line, anaclisis, clinandrium, enclitic, matriclinous, patroclinous, pericline, proclitic, climate,diclinous, monoclinous, triclinium, ladder.
Oops, the comment on the previous *probably* should have gone here--but it still can't beat ladder/clitoris...
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